PBA hits new high as Game Seven of Ginebra-San Mig duel lures all-time record crowd of 24,883 fans

An all-time PBA record crowd of 24,883 was on hand at the Smart-Araneta Coliseum for Game 7 of the Philippine Cup semifinals between Barangay Ginebra and San Mig. Jerome Ascano

THE PBA scaled new heights in its 39-year history on Wednesday night when an all-time record of 24,883 fans trooped to the Smart Araneta Coliseum to watch Game Seven of the PBA Philippine Cup semifinal series between Barangay Ginebra and San Mig Coffee.

The attendance in Game Seven broke the previous high of 23,436 fans which witnessed Game Three of Ginebra's Commissioner's Cup championship series against Alaska last season which the Aces won.

As early as the morning before the match, there were already clear signs that the game was bound to set new box-office records as hundreds of fans gathered outside the Big Dome hoping to snap up the few general admission and standing-room-only (SRO) upper box tickets still up for sale.

Patron and other pricier tickets for the match were sold out as early as Tuesday afternoon.

One fan told Spin.ph he was able to secure two patron tickets regularly priced at P900 each for P5,000 each in the black market. On the other hand, P500 Upper A tickets are being sold for at least P2,000 while P130 general admission tickets are going for P500.